Systems may lose their function, as ideologies have lost their sense. It has become more and more obvious that political and business megalomania and hypocrisy in grand style have their real share causing the present multifaceted global crisis.

Societies need rules to fair-play: We have realized that without ethics there is just chaos. Ethics, however, reduced to a moral set of instructions on how to fairly organize mutual relations, have been felt too ‘bloodless’. It may sound strange, but if we refer to Bill Clinton’s statement on economics, it would rather come to the point with: “It’s our faith, stupid!”

In Faust I Margret’s ‘Gretchenfrage’, her crucial question, to Faust is:

“Say, as regards religion, how you feel.

I know that you are a dear, good man,

Yet, for you, it seems, it has no appeal.”

Certainly, for Faust religion has little appeal – which sadly enough holds for more and more of us, too. Due to a number of unworthy representatives and fuzzy reforms, perceived procrastinated or aligned 'zeitgeisty', religious institutions have suffered a lot of credibility.   More and more Christians in Europe quit their denominational if not religious adherence at all, controversies between religious institutions and believers who have stayed faithful have become rampant.

It was a shock: When in April, 2019, Notre Dame de Paris was burning, people flocked to the venue, kept standing, shocked, paralyzed. Many were crying, kneeling down, started praying. Notre Dame ablaze! "France's soul is burning", wrote the Südkurier, a German daily. What an omen! And the cause? Open! -- At last, when firefighters announced that the cathedral is saved – sighs of relief, prayers of gratitude. Roof structure and spire were gone, but the North and South towers withstood, the Pietà of Louis XIII and the gold cross, the great organ, the stained-glass windows, and the iconic statue of Notre Dame', the Virgin of the Pillar, and finally the dramatic rescue of ' the crown of thorns', the heartfelt relic of Christ's Passion.

Paris was lucky, again, as history knows. At the beginning, President Macron's pledge to rebuild the cathedral in five years nurtured considerable feasibility doubts, but also incited new hope and, as yet, deployed a donation tsunami unheard-of at home and from abroad.  Moreover, an influx of global sympathy and a passionately defended religious and cultural symbolism, a strong sense of allegiance and – last but not least – an overwhelming admiration to what the 500 fire-fighters had accomplished to save Notre Dame, synergized the feelings of Christians and non-Christians, believers and non-believers, agnostics and secular skeptics.

Too often Notre Dame de Paris was at the brink of destruction. In 1831, Victor Hugo's blockbuster novel put the deplorable state of 'Notre Dame de Paris' back into public awareness and made the cathedral's crippled ringer the iconic allegory of a miserable man with a golden heart: The hunchback, insulated in the heights of Notre Dame's towers and merged with the mighty chimes, yet on the ground adhered to a gang of beggars that would both trifle with him and stood fast to him. Victor Hugo succeeded in portraying a dramatic 15th century scenario -- a time of twilight and upheaval -- in an effort to help save Notre Dame – without forgetting the society's pariahs, though: The novel appealed to people's emotions rather than arguing on purely reasonable grounds, and that made its day in 19th century France. "You'll never attain it unless you know the feeling“, knows Goethe in 'Faust'.

The blaze has reinforced a trend that could be observed for some years already: a gradually  increasing interest in spirituality and in Faith, namely in Christian Faith. Reasons are complex; they include our search for a meaning, our desire for equity, accountability, responsibility, communality, solidarity, friendliness and – time: time to retreat, reflect, create, socialize, care. "Be human", said Mrs. Margot Friedländer, one of the last Holocaust survivers, shortly before she died in Mai, 2025, 103 years old, and: "Stay vigilant!"

In evolution, a 'missing link' (or: connecting link) points to a transitional fossil that is missing, leaving a gap, in order to connect two known species – its ancestors and descendants. For our life it is up to us to find the missing link: in a winning spirit, an open heart and a smiling face reflecting our living ‘soul’ – the little extra spice to life, yet the greatest treasure and meaning at all of hospitality conveyed to free people – by free people. Are we free?

When in Faust’s sense, perfect for himself and everyone else, the paradise on earth is accomplished, tells us his final monolog: Not before the last swamp is dry and the last piece of untouched nature has disappeared, he would have reached the goal of his wishes, Faust feels free:

“Then, to the Moment I’d dare say:

‘Stay a while! You are so lovely!’

Through aeons, then, never to fade away

This path of mine through all that’s earthly.

Anticipating, here, its deep enjoyment,

Now I savour it, that highest moment.

Whereas life in Faust’s ‘paradise’ is characterized by his constant efforts to close dangerous gaps through enforced control, our present world’s menacing imprint includes illegal electronic surveillance and criminal hackers’ constant efforts to abuse security software gaps in our computer networks.

Big Data, Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence are milestones of the second millennium. Multinationals provide the technology for private companies and democratic and less democratic states. Competition is in full swing. How long can democratic countries afford authoritarian surveillance states’ increasing attempts to set the pace?

Many companies and countries in Europe have taken much time to go digital, yet its sudden take-off, prompted by Covid-19, turned out bumpy enough. Now, as Artificial Intelligence is marching into a world turned upside down, we tend to either shy away like vampires from garlic, or desperately hail its digital heralds as a panacea for opportunities missed.

Torn between the economies of scope and scale, SME-fragmentation (Small and Medium-sized Enterprises) and consensus struggle, structural organization and a lively, yet 'soulful' organism, the sector's inherent asset is its huge and versatile e-communication network. Travel & Tourism claims to enhance global understanding, propel people's mobility and promote destinations. How can this claim be empowered to create an enhanced impact of Travel & Tourism as a credible influencer on global crises? -- It is high time to work on the answer.

Mephisto, the devil’s messenger, disguised in Faust’s cloak, teaches a student (Faust I):

“When scholars study a thing, they strive

To kill it first, if it’s alive;

Then they have the parts and they’ve lost the whole

For the link that’s missing was the living soul.”

Part V shows possible ways out to elevate the public framework of Travel & Tourism to a purpose higher than promoting its immediate travel and holiday business: toward a 'cluster' of multi-level communication tools, in order to act as the very ‘trailblazer’ for the True, the Beautiful, the Good. There is a good chance that Tourism will fail, but there is bad luck, if pusillanimity prevails. -- Stay tuned.